The HRC estimates the number of spinsters (defined, says Al-Fouzan, as single women over the age of 32) to be at least 1.4 million.
"This means that there is an unmarried woman among every 16 Saudi women," he said in a recent lecture. "There... are a variety of reasons behind this phenomenon including unemployment, a housing shortage and obsolete social traditions."
The number of single women in this age category is higher in the cities than in the countryside, he added. He, however, cautioned against assuming marrying girls is the cure for the problem.
Currently being debated in the Kingdom is the issue of limiting marriages of minors — defined as anyone under the age of 18 — to address the issue of girls being married off to old men, in some cases so that fathers can settle debts or lay claim to dowries.
"Marrying an underage girl to an old man is a crime," said Al-Fouzan. "People should not find an excuse in the marriage of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to Sayidah Ayesha," he said, referring to the Prophet's youngest wife.
In some cases women, especially employed women, are prevented from getting married by their fathers, who deny them permission to get married out of concern of losing the household income. Some cases brought up by women against their fathers for this practice (called adhal, the act of a parent unjustifiably denying a daughter the right to marriage) has reached Saudi courts in the past.
The estimate of unmarried women over the age of 32 was made by Ali Al-Zahrani, a staff member of King Abdul Aziz University, who said the number could currently be as high as 1.5 million, with Makkah province (which includes Jeddah) having the highest number of single women over 32 out of the Kingdom's 13 provinces.
In a related development, the Shoura Council recently discussed regulating the marriage of Saudi men to non-Saudi women and vice versa. In those discussions, some participants said that the rising number of Saudi men marrying non-Saudi women is also contributing to the rise of single Saudi women.See more
Saudi girl band challenges the rules limiting women : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/3518077/Saudi-girl-band-challenges-the-rules-limiting-women.html
Hello everybody above there,
ReplyDeleteI don’t think this could be good news for both men and women of Saudi Arabia. Why our women of Saudi Arabia should be left in a cool for too long. I think this will give the cause of adultery because when a woman is mature the only place for her is her marital home. And even the Quran and teaches of Islam confirmed that the only place for a woman when she is too mature to have a husband is her marital home.
I have a very big plan to work with all Saudi Arabians for us to find solution to the growing problems of women matured enough to have husbands, but they simple don't have the opportunity.
Please those without men don't do the wrong thing because of that, which i am working on a solution to your problems very soon. I pray that God will help you have a partner as i am working towards that.
Myself i am intending to have my future wife in Saudi Arabia, which i hope to help all of you in time, and let us keep on praying for each other for success.
I love you all above there, and keep it up.
Sincerely,
Ahmed.
Ahmed when you solve the Saudi problem can you fly on over to Houston, TX and solve my single problem as well?
ReplyDeleteIf the cougar problem gets too overwhelming for the Kingdom, please, by all means, send them my way. I love older women.
ReplyDeleteWhy not let foreign men marry Saudi women? There is a Saudi woman that I would love to marry. Yes, I am not a muslim but I respect her religion and traditions and would not ask her to change. She is in the above age brackett.
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